Hope Technology press release

(in case the Facebook embedded post doesn’t display for you above)

Our first bike, the HB160 was successfully launched last August and received praise from all who rode it. An asking price of £7500 certainly put it into the Superbike category, but given the quality finish, attention to detail and uniqueness, it’s not unjustified.

However this price didn’t really sit well with one of our founders, Ian Weatherill. He’s been quoted many times stating that UK manufacturing can easily compete in the global market, but initial pricing for the HB160 didn’t really reflect this.

Over the Christmas break we spent time reassessing our Carbon bike program and finding ways to bring a UK manufactured bike to the market at a more affordable price.

We have managed to recalculate the absorption of the R&D costs for our whole Carbon bike development program. This has enabled us to drop the retail price of our HB160 to £5500. We realise this is a major shift in pricing, but there will be no compromise in quality. The frames will still be meticulously manufactured in Barnoldswick by the same craftsmen.

What about the original customers who paid £7500? We have committed to refunding the difference in purchase price to all these customers and will be in touch over the next few weeks.

This has been possible due to our initial and ongoing commitment to keeping production in the UK, enabling us to pass on all cost savings directly to our customers.

Above: Hope HB160 First Look

More Hope numbers

Over on bike industry site CyclingIndustryNews there’s a great feature on Hope that is well worth checking out. Here are some eye catching stats…

25,000: The number of wheels now rolling off the in-house assembly lines each year

30,000: How many brakes produced annually by the business

250 tonnes: The volume of raw aluminium processed in the factory each year. Every little scrap filing is recycled.

85,000: The number of hubs, excluding those in wheelsets, made per annum

300: The number of bikes made available to staff to ride as part of the company’s lease programme

80%: The percentage of staff employed by hope who live in the Barnoldswick community

6 to 9 weeks’ worth: The approximate amount of raw material stocked at any one time

50%: The volume of goods produced now exported

£500,000: The cost of just one of the CNC machines working round the clock. £3 million worth of machinery is run by one staff member alone.

6: acres of new plot of land that Hope have acquired to expand their factory into